Francis Walsingham

Francis Walsingham (1532-6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 to 6 April 1590, serving as her spymaster.

Biography
Francis Walsingham was born in Chislehurst, Kent, England in 1532 to a well-connected family of gentry, and he attended Cambridge University and travelled Europe before becoming a lawyer at the age of twenty. Walsingham went into exile in Switzerland and northern Italy with other Protestants during the reign of Queen Mary I of England, and he returned after Mary's death in 1558. Walsingham rose from obscurity to become a member of Queen Elizabeth I of England's inner circle, serving as ambassador to France in the early 1570s and witnessing the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. As principal secretary from 1573 to 1590, he supported exploration, colonization, the use of the Royal Navy's strength, and the plantation of Ireland, and he worked to bring Scotland and England together. He also oversaw operations that penetrated Spanish military preparation, gathered intelligence from across Europe, disrupted a range of plots against Elizabeth, and secured the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. He died in Seeting Lane, London in 1590.